Systems and methods for tomography imaging

ABSTRACT

The present disclosure provides systems and methods for tomography imaging. The systems and methods may obtain an ultrasonic signal indicating a movement state of a position of an object (e.g., a position inside the object). The ultrasonic signal may be acquired by at least one laser ultrasonic component of a medical device. The systems and methods may determine, based on the ultrasonic signal, movement information of the position of the object. The systems and methods may obtain, based on the movement information of the position, target image data of the object using an imaging component of the medical device.

CROSS-REFERENCE OF RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority of Chinese Patent Application No.202011607379.4, filed on Dec. 29, 2020, and Chinese Patent ApplicationNo. 202023282836.5, filed on Dec. 29, 2020, the contents of each ofwhich are hereby incorporated by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure generally relates to the technology of themedical device, and more particularly, relates to systems and methodsfor tomography imaging.

BACKGROUND

Tomography imaging is widely used in a variety of medical treatmentsand/or diagnostics. Various imaging devices (e.g., an X-ray device, anultrasonography device, a computed tomography (CT) device, a positronemission tomography (PET) device, or a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)device) can be used to obtain tomographic images by performing a scan onan object (e.g., a patient). A motion of the object during the scan,such as a motion of portions of the body (e.g., the head, a leg, etc.)or a motion of an internal organ (e.g., the heart, lung(s)), may causemotion artifacts in a reconstructed image. In this case, a diagnosisand/or treatment of a disease based on the reconstructed image includingthe motion artifacts may be unreliable due to poor image quality.Therefore, it is desirable to develop systems or methods for tomographyimaging, thereby reducing or avoiding motion artifacts in imaging.

SUMMARY

In one aspect of the present disclosure, a system is provided. Thesystem may include at least one storage device including a set ofinstructions, and at least one processor configured to communicate withthe at least one storage device. When executing the set of instructions,the at least one processor may be configured to direct the system toperform the following operations. The operations may include obtainingan ultrasonic signal indicating a movement state of a position of anobject. The ultrasonic signal may be acquired by at least one laserultrasonic component of a medical device. The operations may alsoinclude determining, based on the ultrasonic signal, movementinformation of the position of the object. The operations may furtherinclude obtaining, based on the movement information of the position,target image data of the object using an imaging component of themedical device.

In some embodiments, the ultrasonic signal may be acquired during a scanof the object using the imaging component or before the scan of theobject using the imaging component.

In some embodiments, the imaging component may include at least twodetection rings. The at least one laser ultrasonic component may bedisposed between the at least two detection rings.

In some embodiments, the imaging component may include a gantry with abore. The at least one laser ultrasonic component may be disposed at anend of the bore.

In some embodiments, the medical device may include a holder configuredto support the at least one laser ultrasonic component.

In some embodiments, each of the at least one laser ultrasonic componentmay include a first laser source and a second laser source.

In some embodiments, the first laser source may be configured to emit anenergy pulse to the object for generating the ultrasonic signal and thesecond laser source may be configured to detect the ultrasonic signal.

In some embodiments, the obtaining, based on the movement information ofthe position, target image data of the object using an imaging componentof the medical device may include determining, based on the movementinformation, a parameter set including one or more scan parameters; andobtaining the target image data of the object by causing the imagingcomponent to perform a scan on the object based on the one or more scanparameters.

In some embodiments, the obtaining, based on the movement information ofthe position, target image data of the object using an imaging componentof the medical device may include determining, based on the movementinformation, a parameter set including one or more image reconstructionparameters; obtaining image data of the object by causing the imagingcomponent to perform a scan on the object; and obtaining the targetimage data of the object based on the image data of the object and theone or more image reconstruction parameters.

In some embodiments, the obtaining, based on the movement information ofthe position, target image data of the object using an imaging componentof the medical device may include obtaining the target image data of theobject by triggering the imaging component to perform a scan accordingto the movement information.

In some embodiments, the obtaining, based on the movement information ofthe position, target image data of the object using an imaging componentof the medical device may include obtaining initial image data of theobject by causing the imaging component to perform a scan on the object;and obtaining the target image data of the object based on the initialimage data of the object and the movement information.

In some embodiments, the determining, based on the ultrasonic signal,movement information of the position of the object may includegenerating, based on the ultrasonic signal, an ultrasonic image or amotion curve of the object; and determining, based on the ultrasonicimage or the motion curve of the object, the movement information of theposition of the object.

In some embodiments, the ultrasonic signal may indicate the movementstate of the position inside the object.

In another aspect of the present disclosure, a system is provided. Thesystem may include a medical device. The medical device may include atleast one laser ultrasonic component and an imaging component. The atleast one laser ultrasonic component may be configured to acquire anultrasonic signal indicating a movement state of a position of anobject. The imaging component may be configured to acquire, based on theultrasonic signal, image data of the object.

In some embodiments, the ultrasonic signal may indicate the movementstate of the position inside the object.

In some embodiments, the imaging component may include at least twodetection rings. The at least one laser ultrasonic component may bedisposed between the at least two detection rings.

In some embodiments, the imaging component may include a gantry with abore. The at least one laser ultrasonic component may be disposed at anend of the bore.

In some embodiments, the imaging device may include a holder configuredto support the at least one laser ultrasonic component.

In some embodiments, each of the at least one laser ultrasonic componentmay include a first laser source and a second laser source.

In some embodiments, the first laser source may be configured to emit anenergy pulse to the object for generating the ultrasonic signal and thesecond laser source may be configured to detect the ultrasonic signal.

Additional features will be set forth in part in the description whichfollows, and in part will become apparent to those skilled in the artupon examination of the following and the accompanying drawings or maybe learned by production or operation of the examples. The features ofthe present disclosure may be realized and attained by practice or useof various aspects of the methodologies, instrumentalities, andcombinations set forth in the detailed examples discussed below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present disclosure is further described in terms of exemplaryembodiments. These exemplary embodiments are described in detail withreference to the drawings. These embodiments are non-limiting exemplaryembodiments, in which like reference numerals represent similarstructures throughout the several views of the drawings, and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary medical systemaccording to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating exemplary hardware and/orsoftware components of an exemplary computing device according to someembodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating exemplary hardware and/orsoftware components of an exemplary laser ultrasonic component and anexemplary laser velocimetry detection component according to someembodiments of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 4 and 5 are schematic diagrams illustrating exemplary medicaldevices according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary processing deviceaccording to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary process for obtainingtarget image data of an object according to some embodiments of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary process for generating atarget image of an object according to some embodiments of the presentdisclosure; and

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary process for generating atarget image of an object according to some embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following detailed description, numerous specific details are setforth by way of examples in order to provide a thorough understanding ofthe relevant disclosure. However, it should be apparent to those skilledin the art that the present disclosure may be practiced without suchdetails. In other instances, well-known methods, procedures, systems,components, and/or circuitry have been described at a relatively highlevel, without detail, in order to avoid unnecessarily obscuring aspectsof the present disclosure. Various modifications to the disclosedembodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, andthe general principles defined herein may be applied to otherembodiments and applications without departing from the spirit and scopeof the present disclosure. Thus, the present disclosure is not limitedto the embodiments shown, but to be accorded the widest scope consistentwith the claims.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularexample embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting. As usedherein, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” may be intended toinclude the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicatesotherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprise,”“comprises,” and/or “comprising,” “include,” “includes,” and/or“including,” when used in this specification, specify the presence ofstated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/orcomponents, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or moreother features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components,and/or groups thereof.

It will be understood that the term “system,” “engine,” “unit,”“module,” and/or “block” used herein are one method to distinguishdifferent components, elements, parts, sections, or assembly ofdifferent levels in ascending order. However, the terms may be displacedby another expression if they achieve the same purpose.

Generally, the word “module,” “unit,” or “block,” as used herein, refersto logic embodied in hardware or firmware, or to a collection ofsoftware instructions. A module, a unit, or a block described herein maybe implemented as software and/or hardware and may be stored in any typeof non-transitory computer-readable medium or other storage devices. Insome embodiments, a software module/unit/block may be compiled andlinked into an executable program. It will be appreciated that softwaremodules can be callable from other modules/units/blocks or fromthemselves, and/or may be invoked in response to detected events orinterrupts. Software modules/units/blocks configured for execution oncomputing devices (e.g., a processor 210 as illustrated in FIG. 2) maybe provided on a computer-readable medium, such as a compact disc, adigital video disc, a flash drive, a magnetic disc, or any othertangible medium, or as a digital download (and can be originally storedin a compressed or installable format that needs installation,decompression, or decryption prior to execution). Such software code maybe stored, partially or fully, on a storage device of the executingcomputing device, for execution by the computing device. Softwareinstructions may be embedded in firmware, such as an EPROM. It will befurther appreciated that hardware modules/units/blocks may be includedin connected logic components, such as gates and flip-flops, and/or canbe included of programmable units, such as programmable gate arrays orprocessors. The modules/units/blocks or computing device functionalitydescribed herein may be implemented as software modules/units/blocks,but may be represented in hardware or firmware. In general, themodules/units/blocks described herein refer to logicalmodules/units/blocks that may be combined with othermodules/units/blocks or divided into sub-modules/sub-units/sub-blocksdespite their physical organization or storage. The description may beapplicable to a system, an engine, or a portion thereof.

It will be understood that when a unit, engine, module, or block isreferred to as being “on,” “connected to,” or “coupled to,” anotherunit, engine, module, or block, it may be directly on, connected orcoupled to, or communicate with the other unit, engine, module, orblock, or an intervening unit, engine, module, or block may be present,unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. As used herein, the term“and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of theassociated listed items. For example, the expression “A and/or B”includes only A, only B, or both A and B. The character “/” includes oneof the associated listed terms. The term “multiple” or “a/the pluralityof” in the present disclosure refers to two or more. The terms “first,”“second,” and “third,” etc., are used to distinguish similar objects anddo not represent a specific order of the objects.

These and other features, and characteristics of the present disclosure,as well as the methods of operation and functions of the relatedelements of structure and the combination of parts and economies ofmanufacture, may become more apparent upon consideration of thefollowing description with reference to the accompanying drawings, allof which form a part of this disclosure. It is to be expresslyunderstood, however, that the drawings are for the purpose ofillustration and description only and are not intended to limit thescope of the present disclosure. It is understood that the drawings arenot to scale.

For illustration purposes, the following description is provided to helpbetter understanding an imaging process. It is understood that this isnot intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. For personshaving ordinary skills in the art, a certain amount of variations,changes, and/or modifications may be deducted under the guidance of thepresent disclosure. Those variations, changes, and/or modifications donot depart from the scope of the present disclosure.

Provided herein are systems and components for medical imaging and/ormedical treatment. With the development of computer technology andgraphic images, medical imaging technology is maturing. As used herein,tomographic images refer to a tomographic image sequence of a specificpart of a human body that is generated at intervals along a specificdirection using a tomography device. A tomography device refers to amedical device that can be used to perform a scan on an object to obtaintomography images of the object. In some embodiments, the tomographydevice may include a computed tomography (CT) device, a positronemission tomography (PET) device, a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)device, a digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT), an ultrasound transmissiontomography (UTT) device, or the like, or any combination thereof.

In some embodiments, taking the tomography device of a PET-CT device asan example, the tomography device may include a radiation source (or anexcitation source), a detector, a controller, a gantry, or the like, orany combination thereof. During a scan of an object (e.g., a patient ora portion thereof), the tomography device may be caused to performmultiple tomographic scans around a circumference of the object orparallel to a plane of the object at a plurality of angles (several tothousands), and obtain collected data using the detector to acquireradiating or emitting rays passing through the object. The collecteddata may be reconstructed using a tomography reconstruction algorithm toobtain a three-dimensional (3D) tomographic image of the object.However, during a scan of a patient, a movement of the body of thepatient or an internal organ of the patient may result in motionartifacts in the tomographic image(s). The motion artifacts in thetomographic image(s)may need manual correction, which increases theworkload and reduces the accuracy of image analysis.

The acquisition of organ movement information may improve the quality ofimage reconstruction. A large number of soft tissue organs under theskin may be subjected to large-scale nonlinear deformation caused bynon-rigid movement (e.g., a physiological motion) of organs such asperistalsis, cardiac motion, respiratory motion, etc. Existing movementdetection systems for the internal organ of a patient mainly use abreathing balloon, electrocardiograph (ECG) electrodes, atwo-dimensional/three-dimensional (2D/3D) camera, a radar, or otherequipment to detect the patient's breathing, heartbeat, and limbmovement on the body surface of the patient, which cannot eliminate theinfluence of the non-rigid movement of internal tissues of the body ontomography image imaging of the patient.

An aspect of the present disclosure relates to systems and methods fortomography imaging using a medical device. The medical device mayinclude an imaging component (e.g., a PET-CT scanner) and at least onelaser ultrasonic component. In some embodiments, the system may obtainan ultrasonic signal indicating a movement state of a position of anobject (e.g., a position on the surface of the object or a positioninside the object) The ultrasonic signal may be acquired by at least onelaser ultrasonic component of a medical device. The system maydetermine, based on the ultrasonic signal, movement information of theposition of the object. The system may also obtain, based on themovement information of the position, target image data of the objectusing the imaging component of the medical device.

Another aspect of the present disclosure relates to systems including amedical device. The medical device may include at least one laserultrasonic component configured to acquire an ultrasonic signalindicating a movement state of a position of an object. The medicaldevice may also include an imaging component configured to acquire,based on the ultrasonic signal, image data of the object.

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, an ultrasonicsignal generated inside an object may be detected by at least one laserultrasonic component of a medical device. The ultrasonic signal may beused to determine motion information (e.g., non-rigid movement) of theobject. Merely by way of example, the ultrasonic signal may bereconstructed to generate an ultrasonic image of the object, achievingthe non-contact ultrasonic imaging of soft tissue, organs, et., of theobject. The motion information of the object may be determined based onthe ultrasonic image of the object. Further, the motion information ofthe object may be used to determine one or more scan parameters forperforming a scan on the object using an imaging component of themedical device. Alternatively, the motion information of the object maybe used to determine one or more reconstruction parameters for imagereconstruction. Accordingly, the laser ultrasonic imaging may beassociated with the tomography imaging and reconstruction, and themotion information of the object determined based on the ultrasonicimaging may be used to assist the tomography imaging, which can improvethe image quality of tomographic images generated using the imagingcomponent. In addition, the at least one laser ultrasonic component maybe integrated with the medical device, such that there is no need todetect the movement state of the object using an additional detectiondevice, thereby improving the accuracy of motion detection and imaging.

The following description is provided with reference to exemplaryembodiments that the medical device includes an imaging component (e.g.,a scanner unless otherwise stated. However, it is understood that it isfor illustration purposes only and not intended to limit the scope ofthe present disclosure. The system and method disclosed herein may besuitable for other applications. Merely by way of example, the medicaldevice may include a radiotherapy device (an image-guided radiotherapy(IGRT) device); the system and method can be used to identify anon-rigid motion (e.g., a physiological motion) for controlling imagingand/or the delivery of a radiation beam in radiotherapy.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary medical systemaccording to some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown inFIG. 1, the medical system 100 may include a medical device 110, aprocessing device 120, a storage device 130, one or more terminals 140,a network 150, and at least one laser ultrasonic component 160 (e.g.,one or more laser ultrasonic components 160). The components in themedical system 100 may be connected in one or more of various ways.Merely by way of example, as illustrated in FIG. 1, the medical device110 may be connected to the processing device 120 through the network150. As another example, the medical device 110 may be connected to theprocessing device 120 directly. As a further example, the storage device130 may be connected to the processing device 120 directly or throughthe network 150. As still a further example, one or more terminals 140may be connected to the processing device 120 directly or through thenetwork 150. As still a further example, the at least one laserultrasonic component 160 may be connected to the processing device 120directly or through the network 150.

The medical device 110 may generate or provide image data by scanning anobject or at least a part of the object. In some embodiments, themedical device 110 may include a medical imaging component, for example,a positron emission tomography (PET) device, a single photon emissioncomputed tomography (SPECT) device, a computed tomography CT device, amagnetic resonance imaging (MRI) device, a radiation therapy (RT)device, or the like, or any combination thereof. In some embodiments,the medical device 110 may include a single-modality scanner. Thesingle-modality scanner may include, for example, a magnetic resonance(MR) scanner 110-1, a computed tomography (CT) scanner 110-2, and/ or apositron emission tomography (PET) scanner 110-3. In some embodiments,the medical device 110 may include both the CT scanner 110-2 and the PETscanner 110-3. In some embodiments, image data of different modalitiesrelated to the object, such as CT image data and PET image data, may beacquired using different scanners separately. In some embodiments, themedical device 110 may include a multi-modality scanner. Themulti-modality scanner may include a positron emissiontomography-computed tomography (PET-CT) scanner, a positron emissiontomography-magnetic resonance imaging (PET-MRI) scanner, or the like, orany combination thereof. The multi-modality scanner may performmulti-modality imaging simultaneously. For example, the PET-CT scannermay generate structural X-ray CT image data and functional PET imagedata simultaneously in a single scan. The PET-MRI scanner may generateMRI data and PET data simultaneously in a single scan. In someembodiments, the medical device 110 may include an image-guidedradiotherapy (IGRT) device (not shown in FIG. 1). For example, the IGRTdevice may include a positron emission tomography-radiotherapy (PET-RT)device, or a magnetic resonance imaging-radiotherapy (MRI-RT) device,etc.

Merely by way of example, the medical device 110 may include the PETscanner 110-3. The PET scanner 110-3 may include a gantry with a bore,one or more detection rings (also referred to as detection ring units),etc. The one or more detection rings may be set in the bore of thegantry. Each of the one or more detection rings may include a pluralityof detection sub-units Each of the plurality of detection units mayinclude a crystal array. In a PET scanning process, aradiopharmaceutical (also referred to as a radioactive tracer) may beadministered to the object, in which the radioactive decay events of theradiopharmaceutical may produce positrons. A positron may interact witha free electron in the human tissue of the object to produce apositron-electron annihilation event and emit two oppositely directed yphotons. One or more detection rings may detect the two oppositelydirected y photons, and convert the two oppositely directed y photons toelectronic signals using a photoelectric component. Further, acoincident event may be determined by amplification, analog-to-digitalconversion, energy and time discrimination, or the like, or anycombination thereof.

In some embodiments, the object may include a body, a substance, or thelike, or any combination thereof. In some embodiments, the object mayinclude a specific portion of a body, such as a head, a thorax, anabdomen, or the like, or any combination thereof. In some embodiments,the object may include a specific organ, such as the esophagus, thetrachea, the bronchus, the stomach, the gallbladder, the smallintestine, the colon, the bladder, a ureter, the uterus, a fallopiantube, etc. In some embodiments, the object may include a physical model(e.g., a water phantom). In the present disclosure, “object” and“subject” are used interchangeably. In some embodiments, the medicaldevice 110 may include a scanning table. The object may be placed on thescanning table for imaging.

In some embodiments, the medical device 110 may transmit the image datavia the network 150 to the processing device 120, the storage device130, the terminal(s) 140, and/or the at least one laser ultrasoniccomponent 160. For example, the image data may be sent to the processingdevice 120 for further processing or may be stored in the storage device130. In some embodiments, the medical device 110 may be configured toscan the object or at least a part of the object in response to acontrol signal generated by the processing device 120.

The processing device 120 may process data and/or information obtainedfrom the medical device 110, the storage device 130, the terminal(s)140, and/or the at least one laser ultrasonic component 160. Forexample, the processing device 120 may obtain an ultrasonic signalindicating a movement state of a position of an object through the atleast one laser ultrasonic component 160. The position of the object maybe inside the object or on the surface of the object. The processingdevice 120 may determine, based on the ultrasonic signal, movementinformation of the position of the object. The processing device 120 mayobtain, based on the movement information of the position, target imagedata of the object using an imaging component of the medical device 110.As another example, the processing device 120 may determine, based onthe movement information, a parameter set including one or more scanparameters. The processing device 120 may cause the imaging component ofthe medical device 120 to perform a scan on the object based on the oneor more scan parameters. As yet another example, the processing device120 may determine, based on the movement information, a parameter setincluding one or more image reconstruction parameters. The processingdevice 120 may obtain image data of the object acquired by the imagingcomponent of the medical device 110. The processing device 120 mayobtain the target image data based on the image data of the object andthe one or more image reconstruction parameters. As further anotherexample, the processing device 120 may generate a target image of theobject based on the target image data.

In some embodiments, the processing device 120 may be a single server ora server group. The server group may be centralized or distributed. Insome embodiments, the processing device 120 may be local or remote. Forexample, the processing device 120 may access information and/or datafrom the medical device 110, the storage device 130, the terminal(s)140, and/or the at least one laser ultrasonic component 160 via thenetwork 150. As another example, the processing device 120 may bedirectly connected to the medical device 110, the terminal(s) 140,and/or the storage device 130 to access information and/or data. In someembodiments, the processing device 120 may be implemented on a cloudplatform. For example, the cloud platform may include a private cloud, apublic cloud, a hybrid cloud, a community cloud, a distributed cloud, aninter-cloud, a multi-cloud, or the like, or a combination thereof. Insome embodiments, the processing device 120 may be implemented by acomputing device 200 having one or more components as illustrated inFIG. 2 or be a portion of the terminal 140.

The storage device 130 may store data, instructions, and/or any otherinformation. In some embodiments, the storage device 130 may store dataobtained from the medical device 110, the processing device 120, theterminal(s) 140, and/or the at least one laser ultrasonic component 160.In some embodiments, the storage device 130 may store data and/orinstructions that the processing device 120 may execute or use toperform exemplary methods described in the present disclosure. In someembodiments, the storage device 130 may include a mass storage device, aremovable storage device, a volatile read-and-write memory, a read-onlymemory (ROM), or the like, or any combination thereof. In someembodiments, the storage device 130 may be implemented on a cloudplatform as described elsewhere in the disclosure. Merely by way ofexample, the cloud platform may include a private cloud, a public cloud,a hybrid cloud, a community cloud, a distributed cloud, an inter-cloud,a multi-cloud, or the like, or any combination thereof.

In some embodiments, the storage device 130 may be connected to thenetwork 150 to communicate with one or more other components in themedical system 100 (e.g., the processing device 120, the terminal(s)140, the at least one laser ultrasonic component 160, etc.). One or morecomponents in the medical system 100 may access the data or instructionsstored in the storage device 130 via the network 150. In someembodiments, the storage device 130 may be part of the processing device120.

The terminal(s) 140 may be connected to and/or communicate with themedical device 110, the processing device 120, and/or the storage device130. For example, the terminal(s) 140 may obtain a processed image fromthe processing device 120. As another example, the terminal(s) 140 mayobtain scan data acquired by the medical device 110 and transmit thescan data to the processing device 120 to be processed. In someembodiments, the terminal(s) 140 may include a mobile device 140-1, atablet computer 140-2, a laptop computer 140-3, or the like, or anycombination thereof. For example, the mobile device 140-1 may include amobile phone, a personal digital assistance (PDA), a gaming device, anavigation device, a point of sale (POS) device, a laptop, a tabletcomputer, a desktop, or the like, or any combination thereof. In someembodiments, the terminal(s) 140 may include an input device, an outputdevice, etc. The input device may include alphanumeric and other keysthat may be input via a keyboard, a touch screen (for example, withhaptics or tactile feedback), a speech input, an eye-tracking input, abrain monitoring system, or any other comparable input mechanism. Theinput information received through the input device may be transmittedto the processing device 120 via, for example, a bus, for furtherprocessing. Other types of the input device may include a cursor controldevice, such as a mouse, a trackball, or cursor direction keys, etc. Theoutput device may include a display, a speaker, a printer, or the like,or a combination thereof. In some embodiments, the terminal(s) 140 maybe part of the processing device 120.

The network 150 may include any suitable network that can facilitate theexchange of information and/or data for the medical system 100. In someembodiments, one or more components of the medical system 100 (e.g., themedical device 110, the processing device 120, the storage device 130,the terminal(s) 140, the at least one laser ultrasonic component 160,etc.) may communicate information and/or data with one or more othercomponents of the medical system 100 via the network 150. For example,the processing device 120 may obtain image data from the medical device110 via the network 150. As another example, the processing device 120may obtain user instruction(s) from the terminal(s) 140 via the network150. The network 150 may include a public network (e.g., the Internet),a private network (e.g., a local area network (LAN), a wide area network(WAN)), etc.), a wired network (e.g., an Ethernet network), a wirelessnetwork (e.g., an 802.11 network, a Wi-Fi network, etc.), a cellularnetwork (e.g., a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network), a frame relaynetwork, a virtual private network (“VPN”), a satellite network, atelephone network, routers, hubs, server computers, or the like, or acombination thereof. For example, the network 150 may include a wirelinenetwork, an optical fiber network, a telecommunication network, a localarea network, a wireless local area network (WLAN), a metropolitan areanetwork (MAN), a public telephone switched network (PSTN), a Bluetooth™network, a ZigBee™ network, a near field communication (NFC) network, orthe like, or a combination thereof. In some embodiments, the network 150may include one or more network access points. For example, the network150 may include wired and/or wireless network access points such as basestations and/or internet exchange points, through which one or morecomponents of the medical system 100 may be connected to the network 150to exchange data and/or information.

The at least one laser ultrasonic component 160 may be configured toacquire an ultrasonic signal generated inside the object using laserultrasonic detection. Laser ultrasonic detection is a manner ofnon-contact and long-distance non-destructive detection. When a laserwith certain energy (i.e., an energy pulse or laser pulse) irradiates onthe surface of an object, a part of the energy may be expressed in theform of heat energy and wave energy. The transient thermal interactionbetween a high-energy laser pulse and the object surface may cause thegeneration of strain and stress field on the object surface through thethermoelastic effect, and corresponding particle fluctuation may begenerated and produce the ultrasonic signal inside the object. Then, theinternal structure of the object may be imaged by detecting theultrasonic signal emitted from the inside of the object.

In some embodiments, each of the at least one laser ultrasonic component160 may include a first laser source and a second laser source. Thefirst laser source may be configured to emit an energy pulse to theobject for generating the ultrasonic signal, and also be referred to asa laser emission source. The second laser source may be configured todetect the ultrasonic signal for further processing, and also bereferred to as a laser ultrasonic detection source. For example, theultrasonic signal may be processed for determining scan parameter(s)according to which a medical scan of the object is performed,positioning the object before performing the medical scan, controllingthe process of the medical scan of the object, performing the medicalscan of the object according to a retrospective gating technique,determining image reconstruction parameter(s), or the like, or anycombination thereof. In some embodiments, the second laser source mayinclude a continuous laser, such as a continuous wave (CW) laser. Forexample, the second laser source may include a laser doppler vibrometer.The power of each of the first laser source and the second laser sourcemay be less than a preset power (e.g., 0.4 megawatts). The preset powermay be associated with a safety need of the object, e.g., a power belowthe preset power may be safe to the eyes, the skin of a patient, etc.For example, the wavelength of the first laser source or the secondlaser source may be 1400 nanometers (nm)-1600 nm. As another example,the wavelength of the first laser source or the second laser source maybe 1500 nm-1600 nm. As yet another example, the wavelength of the firstlaser source may be 1540 nm, and the wavelength of the second lasersource may be 1550 nm.

In some embodiments, since the ultrasonic signal generated inside theobject excited by the first laser source has a limited action range ofphotoacoustic effect, the first laser source and the second laser sourcemay be set to be confocal, which ensures the detection range of thesecond laser source covers a generation region of the ultrasonic signal.As used herein, the confocal setting refers to that a first laseremitted by the first laser source and a second laser emitted by thesecond laser source are guided to a same position. For example, thefirst laser source and the second laser source may be arranged to emitthe first laser and the second laser directing to the same position. Asanother example, the first laser source and the second laser source maybe arranged to emit the first laser and the second laser directing twosteering mirrors respectively. The two steering mirrors may guide thefirst laser and the second laser respectively to reach the sameposition. It should be noted that any other light guide manner can beused for achieving the confocal setting of the first laser source andthe second laser source, which is not limited herein.

In some embodiments, the at least one laser component 160 may beconnected with one or more components of the medical system 100 orcommunicate with one or more components (e.g., the processing device120, the storage device 130, the terminal 140) of the medical system 100via the network 150. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, each of the atleast one laser ultrasonic component 160 may include a first lasersource 161 and a second laser source 162. The first laser source 161 maybe coupled with the second laser source 162. The first laser source 161may emit a high-energy laser pulse to the object for generating anultrasonic signal inside the object. The second laser source 162 maydetect the ultrasonic signal generated inside the object. In someembodiments, the medical system 100 may include a laser velocimetrydetection component 121 that communicates with the second laser source162 (e.g., the second laser source 162 may transmit the ultrasonicsignal to the laser velocimetry detection component 121 for processing).For example, the first laser source 161 may emit a high-energy laserpulse to the object and cause the object to vibrate and generate aninitial ultrasonic signal. The initial ultrasonic signal may bereflected in the object to generate the ultrasonic signal. The secondlaser source 162 may detect the ultrasonic signal by detectingvibrations of the object that are generated by the ultrasonic signal.Since the vibrations of the object, the frequency of a lightwave signalreflected by the object may change. The second laser source 162 may emita laser velocimetry pulse to a detection area of the object and detectthe laser velocimetry pulse reflected by the object for determining afrequency change of the reflected laser velocimetry pulse. Further, thesecond laser source 162 may transmit the ultrasonic signal and thefrequency of the reflected laser velocimetry pulse to the laservelocimetry detection component 121.

The laser velocimetry detection component 121 may include a laserdoppler velocimetry (LDV) decoder 1211 and a data acquisition (DAQ)component (e.g., a DAQ card) 1212. The LDV decoder 1211 may becommunicatively connected with the second laser source 162. The LDVdecoder 1211 may be configured to determine the frequency change of thereflected lightwave (e.g., reflected laser velocimetry pulse) from theobject and convert the frequency change to quantitative data (e.g., avibration displacement) of the object that reflects movement informationof the object. The DAQ component 1212 may be communicatively connectedwith the LDV decoder 1211. The DAQ component 1212 may be configured tostore the quantitative data of the object and the ultrasonic signal ofthe object. Further, the DAQ component 1212 may transmit thequantitative data (e.g., the vibration displacement) of the object tothe processing device 120 for subsequent processing. In someembodiments, the laser velocimetry detection component 121 may beintegrated into one or more components of the medical system 100. Forexample, the laser velocimetry detection component 121 may be part ofthe processing device 120. That is, the functions of the LDV decoder1211 and the DAQ component 1212 may be achieved by the processing device120. As another example, the LDV decoder 1211 may be a part of theprocessing device 120, and the DAQ component 1212 may be a part of thestorage device 130. That is, the function of the LDV decoder 1211 may beachieved by the processing device 120, and the function of the DAQcomponent 1212 may be achieved by the storage device 130. As yet anotherexample, the second laser source 162 and the laser velocimetry detectioncomponent 121 may be set integrally or separately.

In some embodiments, the at least one laser ultrasonic component 160 maybe disposed on various suitable positions for obtaining the motioninformation of the object. For instance, the at least one laserultrasonic component 160 may be arranged on a component of the medicaldevice 110 (e.g., a PET scanner). For example, the PET scanner 110-3 mayinclude a PET scanner with a short axial field of view (FOV). The shortaxial FOV refers to that the length of the axial FOV of the PET scanner110-3 along an axis direction of the PET scanner 110-3 is less than apreset threshold (e.g, 1 meter, 0.7 meters, 0.5 meters, etc.). The axisdirection of the PET scanner may be a direction that the scanning tableenters the bore or a longitude direction of the table. The at least onelaser ultrasonic component 160 may be disposed at an end of the bore ofthe PET scanner 110-3 with the short axial FOV. For instance, if thereare two laser ultrasonic components 160, the two laser ultrasoniccomponents 160 may be disposed at two ends of the bore of the PETscanner 110-3 with the short axial FOV, respectively. As anotherexample, the at least one laser ultrasonic component 160 may besupported by a holder of the imaging component of the medical device110. The holder may be arranged on the scanning table of the medicaldevice 110. As yet another example, the imaging component (e.g., the PETscanner 110-3) of the medical device 110 may include a PET scanner witha long axial FOV. The long axial FOV refers to that that the length ofthe axial FOV of the PET scanner 110-3 along the axis direction of thePET scanner 110-3 is greater than a preset threshold (e.g, 1 meter, 0.7meters, 0.5 meters, etc.). The at least one laser ultrasonic component160 may be disposed between at least two detection rings of the PETscanner 110-3. For instance, if the PET scanner 110-3 includes twodetection rings, the at least one laser ultrasonic component 160 may bedisposed between the two detection rings of the PET scanner 110-3.Accordingly, the at least one laser ultrasonic component 160 may bedisposed properly without affecting the detection effect of thedetection ring(s). In some embodiments, although the at least one laserultrasonic component 160 is separately arranged with the medical device110 in FIG. 1, the at least one laser ultrasonic component 160 may bepart of the medical device 110. More descriptions of the laserultrasonic component 160 may be found elsewhere in the presentdisclosure (e.g., FIGS. 4 and 5 and the descriptions thereof).

In some embodiments, a count of the detection ring(s) of the PET scanner110-3, a count of the at least one laser ultrasonic component 160,and/or the position of the at least one laser ultrasonic component 160may be set or adjusted according to different clinical situations, whichis not limited herein. In some embodiments, a detection range of thedetection ring(s) of the PET scanner 110-3 may cover a scanning range ofthe object to be scanned. A detection range of the at least one laserultrasonic component 160 may cover the detection range of the detectionring(s).

It should be noted that the above description regarding the medicalsystem is merely provided for the purposes of illustration, and notintended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. For personshaving ordinary skills in the art, multiple variations and modificationsmay be made under the teachings of the present disclosure. However,those variations and modifications do not depart from the scope of thepresent disclosure. In some embodiments, the medical system may includeone or more additional components, and/or one or more components of themedical system described above may be omitted. In some embodiments, acomponent of the medical system may be implemented on two or moresub-components. Two or more components of the medical system may beintegrated into a single component.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating exemplary hardware and/orsoftware components of an exemplary computing device according to someembodiments of the present disclosure. The computing device 200 may beconfigured to implement any component of the medical system. Forexample, the medical device 110, the terminal 140, the processing device120, and/or the storage device 130 may be implemented on the computingdevice 200. Although only one such computing device is shown forconvenience, the computer functions relating to the medical system asdescribed herein may be implemented in a distributed fashion on a numberof similar platforms, to distribute the processing load. As illustratedin FIG. 2, the computing device 200 may include a processor 210, astorage device 220, an input/output (I/O) 230, and a communication port240.

The processor 210 may execute computer instructions (e.g., programcodes) and perform functions of the processing device 120 in accordancewith techniques described herein. The computer instructions may include,for example, routines, programs, objects, components, signals, datastructures, procedures, modules, and functions, which perform particularfunctions described herein. In some embodiments, the processor 210 mayperform instructions obtained from the terminal 140 and/or the storagedevice 130. In some embodiments, the processor 210 may include one ormore hardware processors, such as a microcontroller, a microprocessor, areduced instruction set computer (RISC), an application-specificintegrated circuits (ASICs), an application-specific instruction-setprocessor (ASIP), a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processingunit (GPU), a physics processing unit (PPU), a microcontroller unit, adigital signal processor (DSP), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA),an advanced RISC machine (ARM), a programmable logic device (PLD), anycircuit or processor capable of executing one or more functions, or thelike, or any combinations thereof.

Merely for illustration, only one processor is described in thecomputing device 200. However, it should be noted that the computingdevice 200 in the present disclosure may also include multipleprocessors. Thus operations and/or method steps that are performed byone processor as described in the present disclosure may also be jointlyor separately performed by the multiple processors. For example, if inthe present disclosure the processor of the computing device 200executes both operation A and operation B, it should be understood thatoperation A and operation B may also be performed by two or moredifferent processors jointly or separately in the computing device 200(e.g., a first processor executes operation A and a second processorexecutes operation B, or the first and second processors jointly executeoperations A and B).

The storage device 220 may store data/information obtained from themedical device 110, the terminal 140, the storage device 130, the atleast one laser ultrasonic component 160, or any other component of themedical system 100. In some embodiments, the storage device 220 mayinclude a mass storage device, a removable storage device, a volatileread-and-write memory, a read-only memory (ROM), or the like, or anycombination thereof. For example, the mass storage device may include amagnetic disk, an optical disk, a solid-state drive, a mobile storagedevice, etc. The removable storage device may include a flash drive, afloppy disk, an optical disk, a memory card, a ZIP disk, a magnetictape, etc. The volatile read-and-write memory may include a randomaccess memory (RAM). The RAM may include a dynamic RAM (DRAM), a doubledate rate synchronous dynamic RAM (DDR-SDRAM), a static RAM (SRAM), athyristor RAM (T-RAM), and a zero-capacitor RAM (Z-RAM), etc. The ROMmay include a mask ROM (MROM), a programmable ROM (PROM), an erasableprogrammable ROM (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable ROM(EEPROM), a compact disk ROM (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk ROM,etc. In some embodiments, the storage device 220 may store one or moreprograms and/or instructions to perform exemplary methods described inthe present disclosure.

The I/O 230 may input or output signals, data, and/or information. Insome embodiments, the I/O 230 may enable user interaction with theprocessing device 120. In some embodiments, the I/O 230 may include aninput device and an output device. Exemplary input devices may include akeyboard, a mouse, a touch screen, a microphone, a camera capturinggestures, or the like, or a combination thereof. Exemplary outputdevices may include a display device, a loudspeaker, a printer, aprojector, a 3D hologram, a light, a warning light, or the like, or acombination thereof. Exemplary display devices may include a liquidcrystal display (LCD), a light-emitting diode (LED)-based display, aflat panel display, a curved screen, a television device, a cathode raytube (CRT), or the like, or a combination thereof.

The communication port 240 may be connected with a network (e.g., thenetwork 150) to facilitate data communications. The communication port240 may establish connections between the processing device 120 and themedical device 110, the terminal 140, the storage device 130, the atleast one laser ultrasonic component 160, or any external devices (e.g.,an external storage device, or an image/data processing workstation).The connection may be a wired connection, a wireless connection, or acombination of both that enables data transmission and reception. Thewired connection may include an electrical cable, an optical cable, atelephone wire, or the like, or any combination thereof. In someembodiments, the communication port 240 may be a standardizedcommunication port, such as RS232, RS485, etc. In some embodiments, thecommunication port 240 may be a specially designed communication port.For example, the communication port 240 may be designed in accordancewith the digital imaging and communications in medicine (DICOM)protocol.

In some embodiments, the computing device 200 may further include a bus(not shown) configured to achieve the communication between theprocessor 210, the storage device 220, the I/O 230, and/or thecommunication port 240. The bus may include hardware, software, or both,which decouple the components of the computing device 200 to each other.The bus may include at least one of a data bus, an address bus, acontrol bus, an expansion bus, or a local bus. For example, the bus mayinclude an accelerated graphics port (AGP) or other graphics bus, anextended industry standard architecture (EISA) bus, a front side bus(FSB), a hyper transport (HT) interconnection, an industry standardarchitecture (ISA) bus, a front side bus (FSB), an Infinibandinterconnection, a low pin count (LPC) bus, a storage bus, a microchannel architecture (MCA) bus, a peripheral component interconnect(PCI) bus, a PCI-Express (PCI-X) bus, a serial advanced technologyattachment (SATA) bus, a video electronics standards association localbus (VLB) bus, or the like, or any combination thereof. In someembodiments, the bus may include one or more buses. Although specificbuses are described, the present disclosure may consider any suitablebus or interconnection.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary medical deviceaccording to some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown inFIG. 4, the medical device 400 may include an imaging component (e.g., aPET-CT scanner) 410, a laser ultrasonic component 420, a table 430, etc.The imaging component 410 may be configured to scan an object placed onthe table 430 and/or at least a part of the object, and acquirecorresponding scan data (also referred to as image data). The laserultrasonic component 420 may be configured to acquire an ultrasonicsignal indicating motion information (e.g., a physiological motion) ofthe object. For example, the ultrasonic signal may indicate a movementstate of a position of the object (e.g., a position on the surface ofthe object and/or inside the object).

In some embodiments, the imaging component 410 may include a CT scanner411 and a PET scanner 412. The PET scanner 410 may include at least onedetection ring disposed in a bore of the PET scanner 412. The laserultrasonic component 420 may be disposed above the object. For example,the laser ultrasonic component 420 may be disposed at an end of the boreof the PET scanner 412 (e.g., an end away from the CT scanner 411 asshown in FIG. 4). As another example, the laser ultrasonic component 420may be disposed at an end between a bore of the CT scanner 411 and thebore of the PET scanner 412. As still another example, the laserultrasonic component 420 may be disposed at an end of the bore of the CTscanner 411 away from the PET scanner 410. As still another example, thelaser ultrasonic component 420 may be disposed inside the bore the CTscanner 411. In some embodiments, the laser ultrasonic component may besupported by a holder set on the table 430. The holer may be fixed ormovable with respect to the table. In some embodiments, the laserultrasonic component 420 may be arranged along a reference axis thatforms a tilting angle A with a vertical line. The vertical line refersto a line perpendicular to the horizontal plane (parallel to theground). The ultrasonic component 420 being arranged along the referenceaxis refers to that a laser beam emitted by a first laser source(similar to the first laser source 161) or a second laser source(similar to the second laser source 162) of the laser ultrasoniccomponent 420 is parallel to the reference axis. The tilting angle A maybe less than a preset angle, such that the laser beam emitted by thefirst laser source and/or the second laser source may not be affected(e.g., shielded) by a part of the object (e.g., hair of a patient),improving a signal to noise ratio (SNR) of the ultrasonic signaldetected by the laser ultrasonic component 420. In some embodiments, thelaser ultrasonic component 420 may be integrated with a laservelocimetry detection component (e.g., the laser velocimetry detectioncomponent 121). Alternatively, the laser velocimetry detection componentmay be disposed separately with the laser ultrasonic component 420. Forexample, the laser velocimetry detection component may be integratedwith a processing device (e.g., the processing device 120).

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary medical deviceaccording to some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown inFIG. 5, the medical device 500 may include an imaging component (e.g.,PET scanner with a long axial FOV) 510, a laser ultrasonic component520, a table 530, a laser velocimetry detection component 540, etc. Theimaging component 510 may be configured to scan an object placed on thetable 530 and/or at least a part of the object, and acquirecorresponding scan data. The laser ultrasonic component 520 may beconfigured to acquire an ultrasonic signal indicating motion information(e.g., a physiological motion) of the object. For example, theultrasonic signal may indicate a movement state of a position of theobject (e.g., a position on the surface of the object or inside theobject). The laser velocimetry detection component 540 may be configuredto process the ultrasonic signal to determine the motion information ofthe object.

In some embodiments, as a position of the laser ultrasonic component 520affects the SNR of the ultrasonic signal detected by the laserultrasonic component 520, the laser ultrasonic component 520 may need tobe arranged to satisfy an SNR need. For example, if the laser ultrasoniccomponent 520 is disposed at a tilting angle greater than the presetangle described in FIG. 4, the probability of the light signalreflecting back to its original path may be relatively low, resulting inlow SNR of the ultrasonic signal detected by the laser ultrasoniccomponent 520. Accordingly, when the PET scanner 510 is with the longaxial FOV, the laser ultrasonic component 520 and the laser velocimetrydetection component 540 may be disposed separately. As shown in FIG. 5,the imaging component 510 may include four detection rings. The laserultrasonic component 520 may be disposed between two adjacent detectionrings of the imaging component 510 at a tilting angle B and above theobject. The titling angle B may be less than a preset angle (e.g.,10degrees, 15 degrees, 20 degrees, etc.). The laser velocimetry detectioncomponent 540 may be disposed on an end of a bore of the imagingcomponent 510. The laser velocimetry detection component 540 may beconnected with the laser ultrasonic component 520 via a connection(e.g., an optical fiber) 550.

It should be noted that the medical devices 400 and 500 are provided forillustration purposes, and not intended to limit the scope of thepresent disclosure. For persons having ordinary skills in the art,multiple variations and modifications may be made under the teachings ofthe present disclosure. However, those variations and modifications donot depart from the scope of the present disclosure. In someembodiments, in FIG. 5, the laser velocimetry detection component 540may be disposed at any other position of the medical device 500. Forexample, the laser velocimetry detection component 540 may be disposedon a holder of the medical device 500. As another example, the laservelocimetry detection component 540 may be disposed above the bore ofthe imaging component 510. As yet another example, the velocimetrydetection component 540 may be disposed beneath the object. In someembodiments, the laser velocimetry detection component 540 may beintegrated into other components (e.g., the processing device 120, thestorage device 130, etc.) of the medical system 100. The laservelocimetry detection component 540 may communicate with the laserultrasonic component 520 via the network 150. In some embodiments, thetilting angle A or the tilting B may be adjusted. For example, theprocessing device 120 may adjust the titling angel A (or the tiltingangle B) by controlling a driver component to move or rotate the laserultrasonic component 420 (or the laser ultrasonic component 520) orsteering mirrors corresponding thereof.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary processing deviceaccording to some embodiments of the present disclosure. In someembodiments, the processing device 120 may be in communication with acomputer-readable storage medium (e.g., the storage device 130illustrated in FIG. 1, or the storage device 220 illustrated in FIG. 2)and may execute instructions stored in the computer-readable storagemedium. The processing device 120 may include an obtaining module 602, amotion determination module 604, a target image data determinationmodule 606, a control module 608, and a reconstruction module 610.

The obtaining module 602 may be configured to acquire data from one ormore components of the medical system 100. In some embodiments, theobtaining module 602 may obtain an ultrasonic signal indicating amovement state of a position of an object. The ultrasonic signal may beacquired before a scan of the object or during the scan of the object.For example, the obtaining module 602 may obtain the ultrasonic signalfrom at least one laser ultrasonic component (e.g. the at least onelaser ultrasonic component 160, the laser ultrasonic component 420, thelaser ultrasonic component 430, etc.). As another example, the obtainingmodule 602 may obtain the ultrasonic signal from a storage device (e.g.,the storage device 130, the storage device 220, etc.). In someembodiments, the obtaining module 602 may obtain scan data (i.e., imagedata) of the object acquired during a scan of the object. For example,the obtaining module 602 may obtain the image data of the object fromthe medical device 110. As another example, the obtaining module 602 mayobtain the image of the object from a storage device (e.g., the storagedevice 130, the storage device 220, etc.). More descriptions regardingthe obtaining of the ultrasonic signal and/or the image data of theobject may be found elsewhere in the present disclosure (e.g., FIG. 7and relevant descriptions thereof).

The motion determination module 604 may be configured to determine,based on the ultrasonic signal, movement information (e.g., cardiacmotion data and/or the respiratory motion data) and/or structuralcharacteristic information of the object. For example, the motiondetermination module 604 may generate, based on the ultrasonic signal, amotion curve related to the position of the object. The motiondetermination module 604 may determine, based on the motion curve, themovement information of the object (e.g., movement information of theposition of the object). As another example, the motion determinationmodule 604 may generate, based on the ultrasonic signal, a gatingsignal. The gating signal may include a cardiac gating signal, arespiratory gating signal, etc., that can be used to generate a controlsignal for controlling the scan of the object using a gating technique.As further another example, the motion determination module 604 maygenerate, based on the ultrasonic signal, an ultrasonic image related tothe position of the object using a reconstruction algorithm. The motiondetermination module 604 may determine, based on the ultrasonic image,the structural characteristic information of the object. Moredescriptions regarding the determination of the movement informationand/or the structural characteristic information of the object may befound elsewhere in the present disclosure (e.g., FIG. 7 and relevantdescriptions thereof).

The target image data determination module 606 may be configured todetermine target image data of the object. In some embodiments, thetarget image data determination module 606 may determine the targetimage data of the object based on initial image data acquired during thescan of the object. For example, the target image data determinationmodule 606 may determine, based on the movement information, a parameterset including one or more scan parameters. The target image datadetermination module 606 may transmit the one or more scan parameters tothe control module 608 for generating a control signal to cause animaging component of a medical device (e.g., the medical device 110) toperform a scan on the object based on the one or more scan parameters.The target image data determination module 606 may obtain the targetimage data of the object by causing the imaging component to perform thescan on the object. As another example, the target image datadetermination module 606 may determine, based on the movementinformation, a parameter set including one or more image reconstructionparameters. The target image data determination module 606 may obtain(or determine) image data of the object by causing the imaging componentto perform a scan on the object. The target image data determinationmodule 606 may obtain (or determine) the target image data of the objectbased on the image data of the object and the one or more imagereconstruction parameters. As still another example, the target imagedata determination module 606 may obtain the target image data of theobject by triggering the imaging component to perform a scan accordingto the movement information. As further another example, the targetimage data determination module 606 may obtain initial image data of theobject by causing the imaging component to perform a scan on the object.The target image data determination module 606 may obtain the targetimage data of the object based on the initial image data of the objectand the movement information. More descriptions of the determination ofthe target image data of the object may be found elsewhere in thepresent disclosure (e.g., FIG. 7 and relevant descriptions thereof).

The control module 608 may be configured to generate a control signalfor controlling the medical device to scan the object or a portionthereof. In some embodiments, the control module 608 may generate thecontrol signal based on the movement information of the object. Forexample, the control module 608 may generate the control signal using agating technique. The gating technique may include a cardiac gating anda respiratory gating. In response to the control signal, the imagingcomponent of the medical device may be directed to scan the object or aportion thereof. In some embodiments, the control module 608 maygenerate a control signal for controlling the at least one laserultrasonic component of the medical device to detect the ultrasonicsignal.

The reconstruction module 610 may be configured to generate a targetimage of the object based on the target image data. For example, thereconstruction module 610 may reconstruct the target image using one ormore reconstruction algorithms. The one or more reconstructionalgorithms may include a 2D Fourier transform technique, a backprojection technique (e.g., a convolution back projection technique, afiltered back projection technique), an iteration reconstructiontechnique, etc. Examples of iterative reconstruction techniques mayinclude a simultaneous algebraic reconstruction technique (SART), asimultaneous iterative reconstruction technique (SIRT), an orderedsubset convex technique (OSC), ordered subset maximum likelihoodmethodologies, an ordered subset expectation maximization (OSEM)methodology, an adaptive statistical iterative reconstruction technique(ASIR) methodology, a least squares QR methodology, an expectationmaximization (EM) methodology, an OS-separable paraboloidal surrogatestechnique (OS-SPS), an algebraic reconstruction technique (ART), aKacsmarz reconstruction technique, or any other iterative reconstructiontechnique or methodology that meets application-specific requirements.In some embodiments, the reconstruction module 610 may generate aninitial image of the object based on the target image data of theobject. The reconstruction module 60 may generate the target image ofthe object by correcting the initial image of the object based on themovement information of the object.

It should be noted that the above descriptions of the processing device120 are provided for the purposes of illustration, and not intended tolimit the scope of the present disclosure. For persons having ordinaryskills in the art, various variations and modifications may be conductedunder the guidance of the present disclosure. However, those variationsand modifications do not depart the scope of the present disclosure. Insome embodiments, the processing device 120 may include one or moreother modules. For example, the processing device 120 may include astorage module to store data generated by the modules in the processingdevice 120. In some embodiments, any two of the modules may be combinedas a single module, and any one of the modules may be divided into twoor more units.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary process for obtainingtarget image data of an object according to some embodiments of thepresent disclosure. Process 700 may be implemented in the medical system100 illustrated in FIG. 1. For example, the process 700 may be stored inthe storage device130 and/or the storage device 220 in the form ofinstructions (e.g., an application), and invoked and/or executed by theprocessing device 120 (e.g., the processing device 120 illustrated inFIG. 1, or one or more modules in the processing device 120 illustratedin FIG. 6). The operations of the illustrated process presented beloware intended to be illustrative. In some embodiments, the process 700may be accomplished with one or more additional operations notdescribed, and/or without one or more of the operations discussed.Additionally, the order in which the operations of the process 700 asillustrated in FIG. 7 and described below is not intended to belimiting.

In 702, the processing device 120 (e.g., the obtaining module 602) mayobtain an ultrasonic signal indicating a movement state of a position ofan object.

In some embodiments, the ultrasonic signal may be acquired by at leastone laser ultrasonic component of a medical device (e.g., the at leastone laser ultrasonic component 160 of the medical device 110, the laserultrasonic component 420 of the medical device 400, or the laserultrasonic component 520 of the medical device 500). The medical devicemay also include an imaging component configured to perform a medicalscan of the object. In some embodiments, the ultrasonic signal may beacquired when the object is placed on a table of the medical device andin an examination space (e.g., a bore of the imaging component) of themedical device. In some embodiments, the ultrasonic signal may beacquired during a scan of the object using the imaging component of themedical device. In some embodiments, the ultrasonic signal may beacquired before the scan of the object using the imaging component. Insome embodiments, the processing device 120 may obtain the ultrasonicsignal directly from the at least one laser ultrasonic component.Alternatively, the at least one laser ultrasonic component may store theultrasonic signal in a storage device (e.g., the storage device 130, thestorage device 220, or the DAQ component 1212). The processing device120 may obtain the ultrasonic signal from the storage device.

In some embodiments, the movement state of the position of the objectmay include a state of a non-rigid motion (e.g., a physiological motionsuch as a cardiac motion or a respiratory motion), a rigid motion, etc.,of the position of the object. As used herein, the position of theobject refers to a physical point (that has a certain area or volumeless than a threshold) or a region (that has a certain area or volumeexceeding a threshold) on the surface of the object or a position insidethe object. For example, if the movement includes the respiratorymotion, the position of the object may include a position on the surfaceof the skin above the sternum of the object which can reflect ups anddowns of the sternum. As another example, if the movement includes thecardiac motion, the position of the object may include a position on theheart of the object.

During the acquisition of the ultrasonic signal, a first laser source(e.g. the first laser source 161) and a second laser source (e.g., thesecond laser source 162) of at least one laser ultrasonic component maybe arranged to be confocal at the position of the object to acquire theultrasonic signal. Alternatively, the ultrasonic signal may indicate amovement state of a region (e.g., an organ such as a breast, the heart,a lung, the stomach, the gallbladder, the small intestine, the colon,etc) of the object.

In a case that there is only a laser ultrasonic component in the medicaldevice, during the acquisition of the ultrasonic signal, the first lasersource and the second laser source of the laser ultrasonic component mayperform the detection on a region of the object by scanning multiplepoints in the region of the object. Two adjacent points of the multiplepoints may be overlapped with each other or be separated by a distance(e.g., 0.5 millimeters (mm), 1 mm, etc.)

In the case that there are two or more laser ultrasonic components inthe medical device, during the acquisition of the ultrasonic signal,detection ranges of the laser ultrasonic components may be arranged tocover the region of the object. Each of the laser ultrasonic componentsmay correspond to different portions (or points) of the region of theobject.

In some embodiments, a detection range of the at least one laserultrasonic component may be set to cover a scanning range of the imagingcomponent. The first laser source of the at least one laser ultrasoniccomponent may emit a first laser pulse to the scanning range (e.g.,position(s) of the object). The object may generate the ultrasonicsignal in response to the first laser pulse. The second laser source ofthe at least one laser ultrasonic component may detect the ultrasonicsignal by emitting a second laser pulse to the scanning range.

In 704, the processing device 120 (e.g., the motion determination module604) may determine, based on the ultrasonic signal, movement informationof the position of the object.

In some embodiments, the movement information of the position of theobject may reflect accurate cardiac motion data and/or respiratorymotion data of the object, which can facilitate to reduce or avoidmotion artifacts (e.g., cardiac motion artifacts or respiratory motionartifacts) in a reconstructed image, and/or controlling the scan of theobject. The movement information of the position of the object mayinclude non-rigid motion information such as a motion intensity, amotion frequency, a motion amplitude, a motion speed, a motion cycle, amotion phase, or the like, or any combination of an organ of the objectduring breathing, heartbeat, or peristalsis (e.g., peristalsis of atissue of the object at irregular times) of the object. In someembodiments, the processing device 120 may determine structuralcharacteristic information of the object based on the ultrasonic signal.The structural characteristic information of the object may include thesize of the object (e.g., a volume of the heart), a location (e.g., areal-time location) of the position of the object, or the like, or anycombination thereof.

In some embodiments, the movement information may be reflected in a formof an ultrasonic image, a motion curve, a gating signal, etc., relatedto the position of the object. For example, the processing device 120may generate, based on the ultrasonic signal, the motion curve relatedto the position of the object. The processing device 120 may determine,based on the motion curve, the movement information of the position ofthe object. For instance, the motion curve may be similar to anelectrocardiograph (ECG) curve that shows a plurality of cardiac cyclesand different phases of a cardiac cycle. As another example, theprocessing device 120 may generate, based on the ultrasonic signal, agating signal. The gating signal may include a cardiac gating signal, arespiratory gating signal, etc., that can be used to generate a controlsignal for controlling the scan of the object using a gating technique.The gating technique may be used for synchronization of signal (e.g., anMR signal, a PET signal) acquisition to the cardiac and/or respiratorycycle.

In some embodiments, the structural characteristic information of theobject may be reflected in a form of an ultrasonic image. For example,the processing device 120 may generate, based on the ultrasonic signal,the ultrasonic image related to the position of the object using areconstruction algorithm(e.g., a 2D reconstruction algorithm, a 3Dreconstruction algorithm, etc.). The ultrasonic image may include a 2Dultrasonic image, a 3D ultrasonic image, etc., related to the positionof the object. For example, the processing device 120 may generate the2D ultrasonic image by performing operations including beam synthesis,filtering, frame correlation, or the like, or any combination thereof,on the ultrasonic signal. As another example, the processing device 120may perform data processing on the digitally stored 2D ultrasonicimages. The processing device 120 may generate the 3D ultrasonic imagebased on the processed 2D ultrasonic image and a reference perspectivestereo image (e.g., a model image). The processing device 120 maydetermine, based on the ultrasonic image, the movement information atthe position of the object.

In 706, the processing device 120 (e.g., the obtaining module 602, thetarget image data determination module 606, or the control module 608)may obtain, based on the movement information of the position, targetimage data of the object using an imaging component of the medicaldevice.

In some embodiments, the processing device 120 may determine, based onthe movement information, a parameter set including one or more scanparameters. The processing device 120 may obtain the target image dataof the object by causing the imaging component to perform the scan onthe object based on the one or more scan parameters. Exemplary scanparameters may include a scan range (e.g., including a scan center and ascanning diameter), a scan frequency (e.g., including gatinginformation), a scan thickness (i.e., a thickness of a scan slice), ascan spacing (i.e., a distance of two scan slices), or the like, or anycombination thereof, more descriptions of which may be found elsewherein the present disclosure (e.g., FIG. 7 and relevant descriptionsthereof). For example, the ultrasonic signal may be acquired before ascan of the object and indicate a movement state and/or structuralcharacteristic information of the object before the scan of the object.In such cases, the processing device 120 may determine, based on themovement information and/or structural characteristic information, aposition of a region of interest (ROI) of the object to be scanned(i.e., the processing device 120 may position the object). For instance,the position of the ROI of the object may be a position of the objectwith a movement speed less than a speed threshold. The processing device120 may determine, based on the position of the ROI of the object, theone or more scan parameters, such as the scan range, the scan thickness,the scan spacing. The processing device 120 may cause the imagingcomponent to perform the scan on the object based on the one or morescan parameters for obtaining the target image data of the object. Asanother example, the ultrasonic signal may be acquired during the scanof the object and indicate a movement state of the object during thescan of the object. The processing device 120 may obtain the targetimage data of the object by triggering the imaging component to performthe scan according to the movement information. For instance, accordingto the movement information, the processing device 120 may trigger theimaging component to acquire image data of the object in specific timeintervals during the scan of the object, and trigger the imagingcomponent to not acquire image data of the object in remaining timeintervals during the scan of the object, which can reduce an impact ofthe scan on the object. More descriptions regarding the determination ofthe one or more scan parameters may be found elsewhere in the presentdisclosure (e.g., FIG. 8 and relevant descriptions thereof).

In some embodiments, the processing device 120 may determine, based onthe movement information, a parameter set including one or more imagereconstruction parameters. The processing device 120 may obtain imagedata of the object by causing the imaging component to perform a scan onthe object. The processing 120 may obtain the target image data of theobject based on the image data of the object and the one or more imagereconstruction parameters. The one or more image reconstructionparameters may include a reconstruction range (e.g., defined by, e.g., alength and width, a diameter, etc. of a reconstruction FOV), areconstruction center, a reconstruction image thickness, areconstruction angle range, or the like, or any combination thereof. Forthe scan data (i.e., the image data) acquired during the scan, a portionof the image data may be selected for reconstruction by setting oradjusting the reconstruction angle range. The reconstruction angle rangecorresponding to the scan may be equal to a scan angle range (includinga plurality of acquisition angles) of the scan or a portion thereof.Taking the imaging of the heart as an example, the processing device 120may obtain image data of the object during one or more cardiac cycles.The processing device 120 may determine, based on the movementinformation of the heart, a target movement phase of the heart for eachof the one or more cardiac cycles. During the target phase, the motionof the heart may be with a small amplitude or intensity. The processingdevice 120 may determine an acquisition angle corresponding to thetarget phase as a target angle. For each of the one or more cardiaccycles, the processing device 120 may determine the reconstruction anglerange centered at the target angle based on a preset angle range. . Theprocessing device 120 may select image data acquired under thereconstruction angle(s) from the image data of the object as the targetimage data.

In some embodiments, the processing device 120 may obtain initial imagedata of the object by causing the imaging component to perform a scan onthe object. The processing device 120 may obtain the target image dataof the object based on the image data of the object and the movementinformation. For example, the processing device 120 may cause theimaging component to acquire the initial image data continuouslyaccording to a retrospective gating technique. The processing device 120may obtain the target image data from the initial image data based onthe movement information (e.g., the cardiac motion data or therespiratory motion data). For example, the initial image data maycorrespond to one or more cardiac cycles. The processing device 120 mayidentify specific time interval(s) (e.g., diastole phase(s)) from theone or more cardiac cycles based on the cardiac motion data. Theprocessing device 120 may determine specific image data of the initialimage data that is acquired at the specific time interval(s) as thetarget image data. The object may undergo a movement with a relativelysmall amplitude or intensity at the specific time interval(s), therebyreducing motion artifact(s) in image reconstruction. As another example,the initial image data may correspond to one or more respiratory cycles(e.g., one or more expiration periods). The processing device 120 mayidentify specific time interval(s) (e.g., an inspiration phase or anexpiration phase) from the one or more specific respiratory cycles basedon the respiratory motion data. The processing device 120 may determinespecific image data of the initial image data that is acquired at thespecific time interval(s) as the target image data. As still anotherexample, the processing device 120 may correct the initial image databased on the movement information. The processing device 120 maydetermine the corrected initial image data as the target image data.

In some embodiments, the processing device 120 may determine, during thescan of the object, the target image data based on the movementinformation of the position of the object. For example, during the scanof the object, the processing device 120 may determine whether themovement state of the position of the object satisfies a presetcondition based on the movement information of the position of theobject. In response determining that the movement state of the positionof the object satisfies the preset condition (e.g., a movement state inwhich the object needs to be during the scan), the processing device 120may determine scan data acquired during the scan as the target imagedata of the object. In response to determining that the movement stateof the position of the object does not satisfy the present condition,the processing device 120 may rescan the object using the imagingcomponent to obtain rescan image data. The processing device 120 maydetermine the rescan image data as the target image data of the object.

It should be noted that the description of the process 700 is providedfor the purposes of illustration, and not intended to limit the scope ofthe present disclosure. For persons having ordinary skills in the art,various variations and modifications may be conducted under the teachingof the present disclosure. For example, operations 702 and 704 may beintegrated into a single operation. As another example, an additionaloperation for image reconstruction based on the target image data may beadded after operation 706. As still another example, the operation 706may be replaced by an operation for generating a target image. In theoperation, the processing device 120 may obtain image data of the objectacquired during a scan of the object using the imaging component. Theprocessing device 120 may reconstruct an initial image (or a tomographyimage sequence) based on the image data. The processing device 120 maygenerate the target image of the object by correcting, based on themovement information, the initial image (or the tomography imagesequence). In further another example, the operation 706 may be omitted.An additional operation for analyzing image data of the object may beadded. For instance, the processing device 120 may obtain image data ofthe object by causing the imaging component to perform a scan on theobject. During the scan, the object may undergo different non-rigidmotions. The processing device 120 may generate, based on the image dataof the object, images of the object. The processing device 120 mayanalyze differences of the images of the object under the differentnon-rigid motions for research purposes. However, those variations andmodifications may not depart from the protection of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary process for generating atarget image of an object according to some embodiments of the presentdisclosure. Process 800 may be implemented in the medical system 100illustrated in FIG. 1. For example, the process 800 may be stored in thestorage device130 and/or the storage device 220 in the form ofinstructions (e.g., an application), and invoked and/or executed by theprocessing device 120 (e.g., the processing device 120 illustrated inFIG. 1, or one or more modules in the processing device 120 illustratedin FIG. 6). The operations of the illustrated process presented beloware intended to be illustrative. In some embodiments, the process 800may be accomplished with one or more additional operations notdescribed, and/or without one or more of the operations discussed.Additionally, the order in which the operations of the process 800 asillustrated in FIG. 8 and described below is not intended to belimiting.

In 802, the processing device 120 (e.g., the obtaining module 610) mayobtain an ultrasonic signal indicating a movement state of a position ofan object.

In some embodiments, the ultrasonic signal may be acquired by at leastone laser ultrasonic component of a medical device (e.g., the at leastone laser ultrasonic component 160 of the medical device 110, the laserultrasonic component 420 of the medical device 400, or the laserultrasonic component 520 of the medical device 500). For example, theultrasonic signal may be acquired before a scan of the object using animaging component of the medical device. As another example, theultrasonic signal may be acquired during the scan of the object usingthe imaging component of the medical device. As still another example,laser sources of the at least one laser ultrasonic component may bearranged to be confocal at the position of the object to acquire theultrasonic signal. More descriptions regarding the obtaining of theultrasonic signal may be similar to that described in operation 702,which is not repeated herein.

In 804, the processing device 120 (e.g., the motion determination module604, and/or the target image data determination module 606) maydetermine, based on the ultrasonic signal, a parameter set including oneor more scan parameters.

In some embodiments, the processing device 120 may determine, based onthe ultrasonic signal, movement information and/or structuralcharacteristic information of the object as described in operation 704in FIG. 7. Different movement information of the object may correspondto different scan parameters. The processing device 120 may determinethe one or more scan parameters based on the movement information and/orthe structural characteristic information of the object. For the PETscanner or the MRI scanner, the one or more scan parameters may includea scan range (e.g., including a scan center and a scanning diameter), ascan frequency (e.g., including gating information), a scan thickness(i.e., a thickness of a scan slice), a scan spacing (i.e., a distance oftwo scan slices), etc. During a scan of the object, the PET scanner (orthe MRI scanner) may be caused to acquire image data of the object orstop acquiring image data of the object based on the scan frequency. Forthe CT scanner, the one or more scan parameters may include a scan time,a scan thickness, a scan spacing, a current time product, a scan range(e.g., including a scanning center and a scanning diameter), a tubevoltage (e.g., a specific kilovolt (kV)) of a radiation source of the CTscanner, a scan angle, or the like, or any combination thereof. Thecurrent time product refers to a product of a tube current of theradiation source of the CT scanner and an exposure time during the scan.The scan time may correspond to time interval(s) during which the objectundergoes a motion with a relatively small amplitude (e.g., timeintervals when the object undergoes light organ peristalsis). For theMRI scanner, the one or more scan parameters may be arranged in a pulsesequence in time series. The pulse sequence may define scan parametersrelating to one or more radiofrequency pulses, one or more phaseencoding gradients according to which scan data (e.g., MR signals) ofthe object may be generated, times when one or more echo signals areacquired (i.e., echo times), etc.

In some embodiments, taking a CT scan as an example, the processingdevice 120 may determine, based on the ultrasonic signal acquired beforethe scan of the object, an ultrasonic image of the object. Theultrasonic image of the object may reflect the structural characteristicinformation of the object, and be used as a positioning image (i.e., aTopo image) of the object for the CT scan. The processing device 120 maydetermine the one or more scan parameters (e.g., the scan range, thescan thickness, the scan spacing, etc.) based on the ultrasonic image.Merely by way of example, the processing device 120 may identify an ROIto be scanned of the object in the ultrasonic image. The processingdevice 120 may determine the scan range based on the ROI to be scannedof the object. The scan range may include the ROI to be scanned of theobject.

In some embodiments, the processing device 120 may determine the scanrange based on the ROI identified in the ultrasonic image and themovement information of the object. For example, the ROI of the objectmay be subjected to a nonlinear deformation caused by the physiologicalmotion of the object. The processing device 120 may determine thenonlinear deformation of the ROI based on the movement information ofthe object. The processing device 120 may determine, based on the ROIand the nonlinear deformation of the ROI, the scan range. The scan rangemay be larger than the ROI, such that when the ROI is subject to thenonlinear deformation caused by the physiological motion of the object,the ROI may be always within the scan range.

In some embodiments, the processing device 120 may determine the scanfrequency based on the movement information of the object. For example,the processing device 120 may generate a motion curve based on theultrasonic signal acquired before the scan of the object. The processingdevice 120 may determine the scan frequency based on the motion curve.The scan frequency may include predicted gating information reflectingwhen the imaging component acquires image data of the object and whenthe imaging component stops acquiring image data of the object. Asanother example, the processing device 120 may determine movementinformation of the object, such as motion speed, motion amplitude,motion intensity, etc. The processing device 120 may generate the gatingsignal for triggering the imaging component to acquire image data whenthe movement information satisfies a condition; the processing device120 may generate the gating signal for causing the imaging component tonot acquire image data when the movement information does not satisfythe condition. For instance, the processing device 120 may generate thegating signal for triggering the imaging component to acquire image datawhen the movement amplitude is less than a threshold amplitude, themovement intensity is less than a threshold intensity, or the movementspeed is less than a threshold speed.

In some embodiments, the processing device 120 may determine the pulsesequence based on the movement information of the object. For example,the pulse sequence may be defined by one or more parameters relating totime, such as a repetition time (TR), an acquisition time (TA), an echotime (TE), etc. The processing device 120 may determine a gating signalbased on the ultrasonic signal acquired before the scan of the object.The processing device 120 may determine, based on the gating signal, theone or more parameters relating to time. Merely by way of example, theprocessing device 120 may determine the acquisition time (TA) and/or therepetition time (TR) based on the gating signal. The processing device120 may determine the pulse sequence based on the one or more parametersrelating to time.

In 806, the processing device 120 (e.g., the target image datadetermination module 630 and the control module 640) may obtain targetimage data of the object by causing an imaging component to perform ascan on the object based on the one or more scan parameters.

In some embodiments, the processing device 120 may obtain the ultrasonicsignal indicating a movement state of the position of the object duringthe scan of the object. The processing device 120 may determine a gatingsignal based on the ultrasonic signal acquired during the scan of theobject. The processing device 120 may cause the imaging component toperform the scan based on the gating signal and the one or more scanparameters. According to the gating signal, the imaging component may becontrolled whether to acquire image data of the object during the scanof the object in real-time. The processing device 120 may determine theimage data acquired during the scan of the object as the target imagedata. Alternatively, the processing device 120 may cause the imagingcomponent to perform the scan on the object based on the one or morescan parameters (e.g., the scan frequency). The processing device 120may designate image data acquired during the scan of the object as thetarget image data. Taking an MRI scan as an example, the processingdevice 120 may obtain scan data of the object by causing the MRI scannerto perform a scan of the object according to a pulse sequence. Theprocessing device 120 may determine, based on the movement informationof the object, whether the motion state of the object satisfies a presetcondition. In response to determining that the motion state satisfiesthe preset condition, the processing device 120 may directly use thescan data to fill one or more k-space lines corresponding to the pulsesequence in a k-space for obtaining the target image data (e.g., k-spacedata). In response to determining that the motion state does not satisfythe preset condition, the processing device 120 may correct the scandata and use the corrected scan data to fill the one or more k-spacelines corresponding to the pulse sequence in the k-space for obtainingthe target image data. Alternatively, the processing device 120 mayremove the scan data and the one more k-space lines in the k-spacecorresponding to the pulse sequence may be not filled. In someembodiments, the processing device 120 may cause the MRI scanner tore-scan the object according to the pulse sequence to obtain second scandata and use the second scan data to fill the one or more k-space linescorresponding to the pulse sequence in the k-space for obtaining thetarget image data (e.g., k-space data) if the motion state of the objectwhen the MRI scanner re-scans the object satisfies the preset condition.More descriptions regarding the obtaining of the target image data maybe found elsewhere in the present disclosure (e.g., operation 706 inFIG. 7 and the description thereof).

In 808, the processing device 120 (e.g., the reconstruction module 650)may generate a target image of the object based on the target image dataof the object.

In some embodiments, the target image may include a 2D image, a 3Dimage, or the like, or any combination thereof. For example, the targetimage may include a 3D image including a tomographic image sequence. Insome embodiments, the processing device 120 may generate the targetimage of the object by reconstructing the target image data using one ormore image reconstruction algorithms. For example, the one or more imagereconstruction algorithms may include a 2D Fourier transform technique,a back projection technique (e.g., a convolution back projectiontechnique, a filtered back projection technique), an iterationreconstruction technique, etc. Examples of iterative reconstructiontechniques may include a simultaneous algebraic reconstruction technique(SART), a simultaneous iterative reconstruction technique (SIRT), anordered subset convex technique (OSC), ordered subset maximum likelihoodmethodologies, an ordered subset expectation maximization (OSEM)methodology, an adaptive statistical iterative reconstruction technique(ASIR) methodology, a least squares QR methodology, an expectationmaximization (EM) methodology, an OS-separable paraboloidal surrogatestechnique (OS-SPS), an algebraic reconstruction technique (ART), aKacsmarz reconstruction technique, or any other iterative reconstructiontechnique or methodology that meets application-specific requirements.

In some embodiments, the processing device 120 may generate an initialimage of the object based on the target image data. The processingdevice 120 may determine the target image of the object by correctingthe initial image. For example, the processing device 120 may correctthe initial image based on movement information of the object that isdetermined based on the ultrasonic signal.

It should be noted that the description of the process 800 is providedfor the purposes of illustration, and not intended to limit the scope ofthe present disclosure. For persons having ordinary skills in the art,various variations and modifications may be conducted under the teachingof the present disclosure. For example, operation 804 may be dividedinto sub-operations, one of which is for determining the movement motionbased on the ultrasonic signal, and another of which is for determiningthe one or more scan parameters based on the movement motion. As anotherexample, an additional operation for causing the target image to bedisplayed may be added after operation 808. However, those variationsand modifications may not depart from the protection of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary process for generating atarget image of an object according to some embodiments of the presentdisclosure. Process 900 may be implemented in the medical system 100illustrated in FIG. 1. For example, the process 900 may be stored in thestorage device130 and/or the storage device 220 in the form ofinstructions (e.g., an application), and invoked and/or executed by theprocessing device 120 (e.g., the processing device 120 illustrated inFIG. 1, or one or more modules in the processing device 120 illustratedin FIG. 6). The operations of the illustrated process presented beloware intended to be illustrative. In some embodiments, the process 900may be accomplished with one or more additional operations notdescribed, and/or without one or more of the operations discussed.Additionally, the order in which the operations of the process 900 asillustrated in FIG. 9 and described below is not intended to belimiting.

In 902, the processing device 120 (e.g., the obtaining module 610) mayobtain an ultrasonic signal indicating a movement state of a position ofan object.

In some embodiments, the ultrasonic signal may be acquired during a scanof the object and indicate the movement state of the object during thescan of the object. More descriptions regarding the obtaining of theultrasonic signal may be similar to that described in operations 702 and802, which are not repeated herein.

In 904, the processing device 120 (e.g., the motion determination module604, and/or the target image data determination module 606) maydetermine, based on the ultrasonic signal, a parameter set including oneor more image reconstruction parameters.

In some embodiments, the processing device 120 may determine, based onthe ultrasonic signal, movement information and/or structuralcharacteristic information of the position of the object as described inoperation 704 in FIG. 7. Different movement information of the objectmay correspond to different image reconstruction parameters. Theprocessing device 120 may determine the one or more image reconstructionparameters based on the movement information and/or the structuralcharacteristic information of the object. The one or more imagereconstruction parameters may include a reconstruction range (e.g.,defined by, e.g., a length and width, a diameter, etc. of areconstruction FOV), a reconstruction center, a reconstruction imagethickness, a reconstruction angle range, or the like, or any combinationthereof. For example, the reconstruction angle range may correspond totime interval(s) when the object undergoes a motion with relativelysmall amplitude or intensity.

In 906, the processing device 120 (e.g., the target image datadetermination module 630 and the control module 640) may obtain imagedata of the object by causing an imaging component to perform the scanon the object.

In some embodiments, the processing device 120 may cause the imagingcomponent to perform the scan on the object for acquiring the image datacontinuously, at the same time, the processing device 120 may obtain theultrasonic signal. In other words, the ultrasonic signal and the imagedata of the object may be acquired synchronously. The processing device120 may process the image data based on the ultrasonic signal. Forexample, the processing device 120 may determine movement information ofthe object based on the ultrasonic signal. The movement information ofthe object may indicate the movement state of the object changing overtime. The processing device 120 may process the image data based on themovement state of the object changing over time according to aretrospective gating technique. For example, the processing device 120may determine, based on the movement information of the object, aretrospective gating curve indicating whether image data acquired at atime (or period) is retained. As a further example, the retrospectivegating curve may include corresponding to continuous time periods. Value1 corresponding to a time period may indicate retaining image data thatis acquired during the time period and value 0 may indicate notretaining image data acquired during the time period. The processingdevice 120 may determine a time period corresponding to value 1 in theretrospective gating curve if the movement state during the time periodsatisfies a condition or corresponding to value 0 if the movement stateduring the time period does not satisfy the condition.

More descriptions regarding the obtaining of the image data may be foundelsewhere in the present disclosure (e.g., operation 706, operation 806,and the descriptions thereof).

In 908, the processing device 120 (e.g., the reconstruction module 650)may generate a target image of the object based on the image data of theobject and the one or more image reconstruction parameters.

In some embodiments, the processing device 120 may determine targetimage data based on the image data of the object and the one or moreimage reconstruction parameters. The processing device 120 may generatethe target image of the object based on the target image data and theone or more reconstruction parameters. Alternatively, the processingdevice 120 may directly generate the target image by reconstructing theimage data of the object based on the one or more image reconstructionparameters. In some embodiments, the processing device 120 may generatethe target image of the object based on the image data of the object andthe one or more reconstruction parameters using one or more imagereconstruction algorithms, more descriptions of which may be foundelsewhere in the present disclosure (e.g., operation 808 in FIG. 8 andrelevant descriptions thereof).

In some embodiments, during a four-dimensional image reconstruction(e.g., a PET reconstruction including time information), image data mayneed to be divided into a plurality of sub-image data according to aplurality of time intervals for reconstruction. Each sub-image data maybe acquired during one of the plurality of time intervals. The pluralityof time intervals may be continuous time intervals. Each of theplurality of time intervals may include a time length (e.g., 0.8seconds, 0.5 seconds, 0.2 seconds, etc.). Time lengths of the pluralityof time intervals may be the same or different. The processing device120 may determine the time length of each of the time intervals based onthe ultrasonic signal of the object. For example, the processing device120 may determine the movement information of the object based on theultrasonic signal. The movement information may indicate one or moremotion cycles (e.g., cardiac cycles) during which the image data isacquired and information (e.g., a heart rate) in each of the one or moremotion cycles. The plurality of time intervals may correspond to the oneor more motion cycles. That is, the duration of each of the one or moremotion cycles may be equal to the duration of one of the plurality oftime intervals. The processing device 120 may determine a time length ofa specific time interval of the plurality of time intervals based on aheart rate in a cardiac cycle that the specific time interval belongsto. Time intervals belong to cardiac cycles with different heart ratesmay correspond to different time lengths. The faster a heart rate of acardiac cycle is, the less a time length of a time interval belongs tothe cardiac cycle may be. For instance, the processing device 120 maydetermine the plurality of time intervals based on the one or moremotion cycles during which the image data is acquired. The processingdevice 120 may divide the image data according to the plurality of timeintervals. The processing device 120 may reconstruct the target image ofthe object based on the divided image data.

In some embodiments, the processing device 120 may generate an initialimage of the object based on the image data and the one or more imagereconstruction parameters. The processing device 120 may determine thetarget image of the object by correcting the initial image. For example,the processing device 120 may correct the initial image based onmovement information of the object that is determined based on theultrasonic signal.

It should be noted that the description of the process 900 is providedfor the purposes of illustration, and not intended to limit the scope ofthe present disclosure. For persons having ordinary skills in the art,various variations and modifications may be conducted under the teachingof the present disclosure. For example, operation 904 may be dividedinto sub-operations, one of which is for determining the movement motionbased on the ultrasonic signal, and another of which is for determiningthe one or more image reconstruction parameters based on the movementmotion. As another example, an additional operation for causing thetarget image to be displayed may be added after operation 908. However,those variations and modifications may not depart from the protection ofthe present disclosure.

Having thus described the basic concepts, it may be rather apparent tothose skilled in the art after reading this detailed disclosure that theforegoing detailed disclosure is intended to be presented by way ofexample only and is not limiting. Various alterations, improvements, andmodifications may occur and are intended for those skilled in the art,though not expressly stated herein. These alterations, improvements, andmodifications are intended to be suggested by the present disclosure,and are within the spirit and scope of the exemplary embodiments of thepresent disclosure.

In some embodiments, the numbers expressing quantities or propertiesused to describe and claim certain embodiments of the application are tobe understood as being modified in some instances by the term “about,”“approximate,” or “substantially.” For example, “about,” “approximate,”or “substantially” may indicate ±20% variation of the value itdescribes, unless otherwise stated. Accordingly, in some embodiments,the numerical parameters set forth in the written description andattached claims are approximations that may vary depending upon thedesired properties sought to be obtained by a particular embodiment. Insome embodiments, the numerical parameters should be construed in lightof the number of reported significant digits and by applying ordinaryrounding techniques. Notwithstanding that the numerical ranges andparameters setting forth the broad scope of some embodiments of theapplication are approximations, the numerical values set forth in thespecific examples are reported as precisely as practicable.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system, comprising: at least one storage deviceincluding a set of instructions; and at least one processor configuredto communicate with the at least one storage device, wherein whenexecuting the set of instructions, the at least one processor isconfigured to direct the system to perform operations including:obtaining an ultrasonic signal indicating a movement state of a positionof an object, the ultrasonic signal being acquired by at least one laserultrasonic component of a medical device; determining, based on theultrasonic signal, movement information of the position of the object;and obtaining, based on the movement information of the position, targetimage data of the object using an imaging component of the medicaldevice.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the ultrasonic signal isacquired during a scan of the object using the imaging component orbefore the scan of the object using the imaging component.
 3. The systemof claim 1, wherein the imaging component includes at least twodetection rings, the at least one laser ultrasonic component beingdisposed between the at least two detection rings.
 4. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the imaging component includes a gantry with a bore,the at least one laser ultrasonic component being disposed at an end ofthe bore.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein the medical device includesa holder configured to support the at least one laser ultrasoniccomponent.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein each of the at least onelaser ultrasonic component includes a first laser source and a secondlaser source.
 7. The system of claim 6, wherein the first laser sourceis configured to emit an energy pulse to the object for generating theultrasonic signal and the second laser source is configured to detectthe ultrasonic signal.
 8. The system of claim 1, wherein the obtaining,based on the movement information of the position, target image data ofthe object using an imaging component of the medical device includes:determining, based on the movement information, a parameter setincluding one or more scan parameters; and obtaining the target imagedata of the object by causing the imaging component to perform a scan onthe object based on the one or more scan parameters.
 9. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the obtaining, based on the movement information of theposition, target image data of the object using an imaging component ofthe medical device includes: determining, based on the movementinformation, a parameter set including one or more image reconstructionparameters; obtaining image data of the object by causing the imagingcomponent to perform a scan on the object; and obtaining the targetimage data of the object based on the image data of the object and theone or more image reconstruction parameters.
 10. The system of claim 1,wherein the obtaining, based on the movement information of theposition, target image data of the object using an imaging component ofthe medical device includes: obtaining the target image data of theobject by triggering the imaging component to perform a scan accordingto the movement information.
 11. The system of claim 1, wherein theobtaining, based on the movement information of the position, targetimage data of the object using an imaging component of the medicaldevice includes: obtaining initial image data of the object by causingthe imaging component to perform a scan on the object; and obtaining thetarget image data of the object based on the initial image data of theobject and the movement information.
 12. The system of claim 1, whereinthe determining, based on the ultrasonic signal, movement information ofthe position of the object includes: generating, based on the ultrasonicsignal, an ultrasonic image or a motion curve of the object; anddetermining, based on the ultrasonic image or the motion curve of theobject, the movement information of the position of the object.
 13. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the ultrasonic signal indicates the movementstate of the position inside the object.
 14. A system, comprising: amedical device including: at least one laser ultrasonic componentconfigured to acquire an ultrasonic signal indicating a movement stateof a position of an object; and an imaging component configured toacquire, based on the ultrasonic signal, image data of the object. 15.The system of claim 14, wherein the ultrasonic signal indicates themovement state of the position inside the object.
 16. The system ofclaim 14, wherein the imaging component includes at least two detectionrings, the at least one laser ultrasonic component being disposedbetween the at least two detection rings.
 17. The system of claim 14,wherein the imaging component includes a gantry with a bore, the atleast one laser ultrasonic component being disposed at an end of thebore.
 18. The system of claim 14, wherein the imaging device includes aholder configured to support the at least one laser ultrasoniccomponent.
 19. The system of claim 14, wherein each of the at least onelaser ultrasonic component includes a first laser source and a secondlaser source,
 20. The system of claim 19, wherein the first laser sourceis configured to emit an energy pulse to the object for generating theultrasonic signal and the second laser source is configured to detectthe ultrasonic signal.